The Fox of France - Chapter 319: Telegrams and Codes

News of the uprising in Mexico took nearly a month to reach Europe, and it didn’t cause much of a stir there. After all, Mexico seemed too distant for the average European. Only the Spanish ambassador to France submitted a weakly worded protest, urging France to restrain the activities of heretics within its borders and control the flow of weapons.

“Juan, as you know, our ‘Code of Law’ guarantees religious freedom,” Talleyrand calmly accepted the protest handed by the Spanish ambassador, casually placing it in the drawer of his desk. “Though personally and among those with some knowledge of religion, we know that this ‘theology of revolution’ is heretical. But in our country, heresy is lawful. Unless they commit something truly drastic, we can’t constrain them according to the law. Heresy and preaching itself, we can’t control. At least not in France and its territories. You might not be aware, but there are about five or six fellows wandering in France claiming to be the living Jesus. We haven’t thrown them all into jail because of our religious and speech freedoms.”

“As far as I know,” Ambassador Juan remarked, “of those ‘living Jesus’ individuals, there were five, and four ended up in mental asylums.”

“That’s because their families applied to hospitals, and with qualified doctors’ diagnoses, they were admitted. This is a matter of medicine. How could that be considered imprisonment?”

“But there’s one ‘living Jesus’ detained in prison by your government?”

“Oh, he’s inside, but not for religious reasons. I’m sure he wasn’t arrested due to religious grounds. In our France, it’s a free and democratic republic. Our people have the liberty to believe in any religion or none, switch from one faith to another, or even embrace all religions at once. No one here gets locked up for religious reasons. The one you mention was detained for illegal medical practice resulting in death. He claimed that by touching the patient and shouting ‘I am Jesus, I command illness to leave this person,’ he could cure them, which ended up fatal. If the patient hadn’t died, we wouldn’t have arrested him. Our government lacks authority over religious beliefs.”

Talleyrand gestured helplessly. “But these heretical theories are so absurd. Strengthening education might quickly refute their erroneous views and resolve this.”

Ambassador Juan realized he couldn’t expect much help on this issue from a group of devout Catholics. Even today, was there a greater heresy than the French Church? Even Lutherans or the entire Protestant movement were labeled heretics by the Church. Unlike the French, who were clearly heretical, the Church refrained from acknowledging it.

“What about weapon control?” inquired Ambassador Juan.

“Ah, that’s not a significant issue,” replied Minister Talleyrand briskly. “Our nations are allies. We won’t aid each other’s enemies. We certainly won’t sell them weapons. I assure you; we haven’t sold arms to Mexico.”

“But from our knowledge, the rebels in Mexico possess French weapons,” the ambassador mentioned.

“That must be smuggling,” Talleyrand asserted calmly. “In the Americas, especially Louisiana, where laws are scarce, one’s safety and property security rely on a gun. Unlike Europe, firearms are freely traded there, and it’s challenging to control. For instance, a group of new immigrants planning to farm further north encounters Native Americans and American bandits. To peacefully buy furs from the Native Americans, we must ensure they have enough weapons for self-defense.”

“In Louisiana, all sorts of firearms, even the latest cannons, can be legally purchased—only for French citizens. Because up north, there have been instances of British, American, and even Native Americans using cannons to rob our settlers. We can’t watch them oppress our immigrants with cannons.”

“We assure you, if a Mexican crosses the border into Louisiana and attempts to buy weapons from a store without legal documentation, not even a fruit knife would be sold to them. If any store violates this, they’ll be fined severely. But if they wait outside and casually persuade a Frenchman heading in to buy guns for them, that’s beyond our control. It’s not that we don’t want to regulate it; our law enforcement in the New World is insufficient. We’ll enhance border patrols and intercept smugglers. Your country should do the same to prevent weapon smuggling.”

Talleyrand smiled suddenly. “However, Ambassador Juan, you know the border between Louisiana and Mexico is vast. Completely sealing such a lengthy border isn’t easy, nearly impossible. Alternatively, your country could directly purchase more and better weapons from us. With your superior resources and manpower, combined with our advanced arms, I believe your country can successfully quell the rebellion in Mexico.”

Observing Talleyrand’s earnest, almost royal-like smile, Ambassador Juan almost lost control and wanted to throw his white glove at Talleyrand’s face. However, he restrained himself, telling Talleyrand, “Minister, our nations are allies. We abide by the treaties, cherish our friendship. I hope, at this time, we can sincerely assist each other and navigate through these turbulent waters.”

With that, Ambassador Juan bid farewell and hurried back to the embassy. He documented today’s negotiations with the French and translated them into coded reports, sending them via telegraph from Paris to Madrid.

Between France and Madrid, commercial telegraph lines existed by now. However, since these lines were managed by French companies, crucial and confidential messages needed encryption. Even with encryption, it was still unsafe. Telegraph companies archived these messages, and with enough data combined with current events, deciphering these codes wasn’t difficult. Considering that cryptography hadn’t emerged in this era, the so-called “encrypted messages” were of poor quality, akin to childish rhymes or overly obvious hints.

However, among the French, there was a man named Joseph who had crossed over. Though he himself knew only a single term related to cryptography, he had some understanding of permutations and combinations. Coupled with a general direction and the lack of proper encryption awareness in this era, deciphering these messages became easier when one could automatically access all telegraphed content. Unlike these times, the encryption tactics were constant, like the Kuomintang, using the same code for years, making it easy for the White Eagle to feed false information to them.

Comparatively, despite the poor encryption skill of the former Rabbit, the Grasshopper Army thought they could crack Rabbit’s codes in at most two months, but they never succeeded until the Grasshopper Army surrendered because the Rabbit changed codebooks every month or so.

So, in the eyes of the Ministry of Truth and Public Security, the ciphers used by the Spanish government were almost as good as plain text. Just as Ambassador Juan’s message was relayed, the French already knew its content. When directives from Spain returned, Lucien learned this even earlier than Ambassador Juan, as the latter had to wait for the telegraph company to deliver the message. Lucien, on the other hand, received the translated content directly via telephone.

“Interesting, the Spaniards are resolute… What? How could the Spaniards do this? This is too…” Lucien was startled by the decisiveness of the Spanish.